Wake Forest Athletics
Post game quotes
10/12/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 12, 2002
Recap?|? Final Stats?|? Notes
Wake Forest Head Coach Jim Grobe
They beat us at our own game today. They we're mixing it up with play action and we're really running the ball well. My hat is off to Duke today. There were lots of things that we didn't do well today. This is a much-improved Duke team. Their defense took it to us.
I got after our offense a little bit at halftime. We played with heart, we just weren't playing very well. I wasn't happy with the score at the end of the half. Our team got challenged in the first half and responded well in the second half.
I think we had 51 snaps on defense in the first half so I didn't know what to expect out of them in the second half and that's why I was getting on the offense as hard as I was. It was a weird situation where I was thankful to be up 14, but I was scared to death because I knew our defense was tired.
It feels great to win. This is the kind of team were we have to fight and scrap for everything we get. It feels better to be in the fourth quarter and be ahead. Turnovers and field possession is what the game came down to. I told our players that they won't enjoy their Monday meetings with their position coaches, but to enjoy this win.
We only blitzed three times, so for Calvin (Pace) to make the plays he did without the help of the linebackers was really incredible.
We didn't use R.D. (Montgomery) last week in kick blocking. We've tried having him jump up there on long field goals, but today we tried it on the short ones and it worked pretty well. He did a great job of getting up there and getting a hand on it.
WFU Defensive End Calvin Pace
"It feels good to be up 20-something points and be able to run the clock out. It was a very sweet victory. Duke fought us hard the whole time, so this was definitely a good win."
On making defensive adjustments in the second half: "We had to make some adjustments. I think the defense played better during the second half. We just had to tighten our tackling up. We just got things sured up at half time."
WFU Offensive Guard Tyson Clabo
"This was a huge win for us. We wanted to get above .500 and we wanted to wins in a row - something we haven't done this year. To bear an ACC team is more important.
On the second half play:
"I think the offense was only on the field for 20 plays in the first half. It was the first time all season that I wasn't tired at halftime. Nick (Burney) popped out for that long run and that was a big momentum shift for us."
WFU Linebacker Kellen Brantley
"The goal for the defense was to finish the game strong. We gave up a few things, but we tightened up on the goal line. It was time for us to make a statement and hold our ground in the fourth quarter.
On Duke's score before halftime:
"We've talked about not giving up a score before half, but that seems to be our trade mark. But we were able to stop them after halftime. Basically we just did the same things and ran the same game plan. But we just disguised it better in the second half."
